Wild dogs at Chitabe

Michelle’s Chitabe Wild dogs and Elephant Story

As the sun sunk below the horizon, casting golden rays that caught the clouds of dust kicked up by elephants, a shrill trumpet pierced the stillness. On the fringes of a cluster of trees, where the grassland met sand and shrubbery, a pack of wild dogs had begun a game with a small herd of elephants: two females and a junvenile.The young dogs, paint-splashed with browns and blacks and whites, would dart in towards the elephants, so close they would be almost underfoot, and away when the adults gave chase. The wild dogs were unperturbed by the shrill trumpeting of the elephants; tusks held high and ears flapping wildly. The two adults had formed a defensive formation - back to back, protecting the calf between them. Occasionally, an adult would charge one of the dogs, who received the gesture with almost boredom - a flick of the ears, lazily trotting out of the reach of the elephant. After a while, the dogs turned their attention elsewhere. They trotted on. The elephants were left alone, but they remained tense, tails, raised and their nervous, darting eyes remained ever watchful, even as the dogs disappeared into the distance, winding through the tall grass until they were out of sight. As the darkness creeped into the landscape, we turned back to Chitabe. If a game drive were a show upon a gilded stage, the wild dogs and elephants had been the grand finale, and as the curtains closed, we found ourselves eagerly awaiting the next show.